It was a chance that Ryan Preece had to take if he wanted any shot at Doug Coby on Saturday night.

Marc Allard

WATERFORD — It was a chance that Ryan Preece had to take if he wanted any shot at Doug Coby on Saturday night.

With two laps to go in the Mr. Rooter 161 at Waterford Speedbowl, Preece was about five car-lengths behind Coby.

“I was happy running second at that point, because I was dropping back and (Donny Lia and Todd Szegedy) were coming and I was just getting worse so I was like, if I finish second it would be awesome,” Preece said.

Then, Szegedy got turned coming through turn two and took a tour of the infield grass creating a green-white-checkered finish. It brought Preece back to the race last year when Coby was the guy chasing him.

“Last year definitely came to mind,” Preece said.

It would be a repeat of that race as the guy doing the chasing brought home the victory, with Preece getting his second consecutive victory on the Whelen Modified Tour.

But it wasn’t easy; on three previous restarts, Coby had blown past Preece starting on the outside.

“I knew that the outside was better for grip and I didn’t want to be the leader who lost the lead by some guy getting a good run on the outside,” Coby said.

Preece knew he had to be even with Coby coming down the frontstretch and had to be below him going into the first turn or it was going to be over. So, he played it as close to the rules as he could, beating Coby to the start-finish line by .021 seconds.

“That’s about the length of my finger,” Preece said holding up his index finger.

It could have been ruled a jumped start by NASCAR officials but Tour Director Jimmy Wilson decided that it was too close to call and let it ride, much to Coby’s chagrin.

“If they were going to stay consistent with the rules, they should have told him, give (the lead) back,” Coby said.

Instead, Preece gave Coby a door shot and took the lead through turn one.

“I was planning on being clear of him so he couldn’t get to my door, but when we were side-by-side going into (turn) one, I knew I was getting the door shot, because I kind of gave it to him last year,” Coby said.
Coby then said Preece gave him another door shot, this time coming through turn three.

“The first one was ‘Go away,’ the second was a blatant right-hand turn, but you’re winning a race so I don’t blame (Preece) for that,” Coby said. “I probably would have done the same thing. I’m not as upset with Ryan hitting me, I’m more upset with the lack of consistency with the rules.”

Preece said there was a little banging and bumping going on, but nothing that would have taken Coby out of contention.

“Last year, the one he gave me was enough to put me back to third,” Preece said. “I guess if you add the two together, it equals last year. But you know, it was a good race, hard racing, and I’m sure the fans loved it. I’m happy to win. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s one of those feelings that won’t hit you until the next day.”

Win drought

Bringing home trophies and first-place money has never been an issue for Ted Christopher over the course of his long short-track career, but this season has been a challenge for the veteran driver.

On Friday night at Stafford Speedway, he took his first checkered flag of the season in the SK Modified race and the calendar read June 21.

“I don’t ever look at that stuff, you go every week and try to do the best that you can,” Christopher said. “It’s been frustrating because we’ve been fast at times, (the Stafford SK ride) has never been slow, but it hasn’t been consistent. Sometimes you get into a (bad) lane, sometimes you get a good lane. We’ve been in the bad lanes.”

It was the 99th career win in an SK at Stafford for Christopher.

“I want to get to 100,” Christopher said with a smile. “Stafford has been a special place to win at. I’ve always liked Stafford and it’s been good to me.”

In all, counting Tour races and the like, Christopher has about 120 wins at Stafford and 98 at Thompson. In his career, Christopher is well over the 300-mark in victories.

“I was never into (the numbers),” Christopher said. “My family wasn’t into racing so it’s not like I’m following a legacy or anything. My brother and I started late when we got out of high school so I never really look at statistics. I’m happy with what I’ve done, but I don’t dwell on it. When people talk to me about it, I talk about it, but generally, I don’t talk about it.”

Christopher is running regularly this season at Stafford and Waterford, changing to the ’Bowl from Thompson Speedway where he had so much success. He has yet to win at Waterford this season.

“It was there in the beginning, then it got wrecked, and it was off, but we tested on Thursday,” Christopher said. “When you test here on Thursday, you can get right up to the fence and actually see what your car is doing and it’s doing exactly what I’m telling them it’s doing, (his crew) can see it. We went back home on Thursday and made a lot of measurements and changes.”

On Saturday, Christopher finished seventh in the SK Modified race.

Looking to win

It was another Whelen Modified Tour race, another middle-of-the-pack finish for Groton driver Ron Yuhas Jr.
The former Speedbowl SK Modified champion was competing in his 53rd Tour race and has yet to win.

“The Tour is just so competitive and the nature of the competition is second to none, so to get that first win will be a big deal to get that monkey off our back,” Yuhas said. “On a personal level, there’s always that pressure to get a win, and sometimes you start second-guessing when you have some bad runs. We just have to stay strong, stay positive.”

Yuhas would have loved to accomplish that on what he still considers to be his home track, but had to settle for a 15th-place finish on Saturday.

Yuhas came into the Mr. Rooter 161 in 11th-place overall in the point standings.

“We probably should be a little better (in the standings)” Yuhas said. “We ran into some bad luck at Thompson where we had a good car early, came in, made some adjustments, and got caught up in something. It started the season off on the wrong note.”

Yuhas was hoping to get a solid finish at Waterford to get the season pointed in the right direction, but still has another 10 races to try and figure some things out.